Eternal Moon

Chapter 24: Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down

Releasing the glamour she had put up for herself allowed Sorcha more use of her power, but it did not make her task any easier. Emma had fought Colin and Sorcha tooth-and-nail when they had opened the boot of the car. Like a wildcat, she thrashed and squirmed to the best of her ability, almost toppling Colin over when he'd seized her.

Emma had not complied when they first cornered her. It had taken considerable time to bind her, gag her, and throw her in the boot of the car they had rented. As soon as they had driven off they heard her kicking around. The sounds of her muffled screaming irritated Sorcha until they reached the highway. After about twenty miles, she finally stopped.

There was little wind left in her sails when they made their first stop, however. They could not afford to stop at public places where the chance of being caught was too great. Colin had gathered containers of petrol before the trip, allowing them to refuel at remote locations. Sorcha could see the worry in Emma's eyes when the young woman realized there was no one to ask for help.

When Sorcha deemed it safe enough, she gestured for Colin to remove Emma's gag.

The young girl spit at him. "What do you want with me?!"

Wiping the spit off his face, Colin grumbled, "I'm not a babysitter, Sorcha."

"Nor am I," she snapped. "We have to go back to Gealach Lán. Then we can proceed."

"Proceed with what?!" Emma demanded. She fought against the bindings around her hands, already showing signs of painful ligature marks.

When Colin and Sorcha both ignored her, she asked instead, "Does this have something to do with Jamie?"

So smarts do run in the family, Sorcha thought. That gave her a sense of pride. Though it was currently annoying.

"Going back to the village risks running into Kane," Colin pointed out.

They still had a few weeks until the full moon but Sorcha agreed that Kane was a problem. And if he found out about their newly attained cargo...

The problem was that Gealach Lán was the perfect place to evade discovery. Authorities had no knowledge of the village. It was untraceable, even on the internet. No one would ever find Emma or Jamie if the little bitch decided to stay.

Gealach Lán was also the ideal location for the ritual. Sorcha's power was strong there after percolating and cementing for over five centuries. The odds of the ritual working were a lot stronger somewhere the gods knew they could rely on a devoted follower who had kept up the sacrifices. It had to occur in one of the 'thin places,' spots where the boundaries between the human world and the other world were blurry. There were other such places in the Isles, but Sorcha could not depend on them being as well hidden.

"You had something to do with her, didn't you?!" Emma cried, her eyes wide as saucers. "Did you kill her?!"

Colin warned, "Sorcha..."

"Just put the gag back on her then if you're tired of her! I need to fucking think."

Emma tried to evade him but it was no use. The Irishman successfully had the gag back in her mouth.

His handsome but exasperated face glared at Sorcha. "What do we do now?"

The witch couldn't see any other way around it. They had to go back to Gealach Lán.

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Despite his invitation, Jamie didn't join Kane for dinner. Not out of spite but simply because she was exhausted by the time she finished the dinner prep. After the now interminably long walk back to Castle Murdock, she collapsed in her bed and passed out till morning.